


You Can't Keep It

by hippydeath



Category: The Hobbit (2012), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Harm to Animals, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-18
Updated: 2013-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-08 20:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/765866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hippydeath/pseuds/hippydeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two young dwarves and an injured badger, what could possibly go wrong?</p>
<p>(please see notes for details of the 'harm to animals' if you are concerned)</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can't Keep It

**Author's Note:**

> I shall blame some of my fellow LARPers for at least some of this madness, but I can assure you that the badger in this fic is not a trained tunnel badger, and is not called Clive. Nor is it called Francis, although for an idea of Kili carrying the badger, please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UqFPujRZWo this video.
> 
> With regards to the animal harm, prior to the story starting, a badger has been attacked by a dog and sustained some injuries.

“We can’t keep it.”  
His brother pouts at him and he tries to hug the offending creature even more, despite the fact that it seems intent on clawing his still virtually beardless face.  
“Fee…” he whines.  
“What will mama say?”  
The pout continues, as does the growl low in the creature’s throat, and in the end his own excitement at catching it overrules sense.  
“Fine. But if mama tells you no, I’m not sticking up for you.”  
The grin is blinding and his brother runs off ahead of him, half carrying the creature, which is almost as big as he is. It seems to have quietened and Fili hopes his brother hasn’t strangled it by accident.

“Mama! Mama! Look what we caught!” are the first words out of Kili’s mouth as they cross the threshold into the house, Fíli a few steps behind.

Needless to say their mother isn’t best pleased as Kili dumps the creature in the middle of the floor. Fili is relieved to see it isn’t dead; it snuffles around and glares at everything with its beady eyes, and limps a few paces, leaving a trail of mud and dust and blood.  
Kili is filthy and covered in scratches.  
“What the?! Boys!” Dís takes a step forwards, “take it back to wherever you found it!”  
“But mama! We caught it! We’re going to keep it!” Kili steals a glance at his brother for reassurance.  
“You cannot keep a badger!” She admonishes them, “certainly not in this house.”  
The aforementioned badger moves again, drawing attention to the fact that it was actually hurt, and Dís gave her sons a questioning look. “Did you do that?”  
"No," Fili pipes up, "one of Arin's dogs had it cornered, which weren't fair 'cause he teaches them to be mean."  
Kili nods, reaching out to the badger to try and stroke it.  
"You know they're not pets," their mother sighs, "If one of Arin's dogs found it you should have let it be."  
"But its hurt!" Kili cries, "and the dogs're mean, 'nd Arin's mean and it's just lost, I'm sure." He crumples his chin, pouting, "We can look after it."  
Dis looks at them, there's a lesson in this, probably the same one her mother taught her and Frerin when they were small.  
"Alright. The two of you can look after it until it’s healed. But then it goes back outside. You'll go and see Oin for something for its leg, you'll clean up any mess it makes, you'll feed it and anything it breaks, you'll replace."  
Kili is almost bouncing with glee, but Fili is maybe realising that this is going to be hard work. Never the less, he nods his agreement.  
"Deal?" she asks.  
"Deal thank you mama!" Kili squeals, rushing at her and hugging her.  
Fili nods, "Deal."  
"Then you'd best go and find something for it to sleep in, and go and see Oin."  
They find an old box that had, over the years, held all manner of things, but probably nothing as strange as a badger, and they fill it with old blankets and Fili helps his brother lift the badger up high enough to get it in. It glowers and scratches and snarls at them; Kili squealing in pain when a claw breaks the skin on his arm, but it goes in and doesn't seem inclined to get out.  
Then they turn to Dis, who has stood overseeing the entire thing.  
“Now wash yourselves up and go and see Mister Oin, and find it something to eat while you’re gone.”  
They run off to wash and when they’re done, she hands Fili a small purse of coin.  
“You’re not to waste it,” she tells him, and he straightens up, nodding seriously. 

“What do badgers eat?” Kili asks as they are halfway to Oin’s shop.  
Fili shakes his head, “Shouldn’t you know that, since you wanted to keep it?  
“Just wanted the dog off it.” Kili mumbles.  
“Maybe Master Oin will know,” Fili assures him, “If not, it’ll just have to eat your dinner.”  
“No! It can’t!” Kili objects. “Papa says I have to eat everything or I won’t grow up to be big and strong!”  
“Well it can’t have mine.” Fili snaps back.  
They fall back into silence as they weave through the market and streets, trying not to get trodden on, and Fili clutching his brother’s hand so they don’t get separated.

Oin’s shop is one of the nicer buildings in one of the nicer parts of the city, a sign of the prosperity his family enjoys. The door opens with a jangling sounds and the air inside is thick with the smell of herbs and incense, making both the boys wrinkle their noses.  
Oin himself is busy behind the counter talking to a Dwarf who looks even older than him or Balin, while the assistant he employs is restocking jars of dried leaves, and seems inclined to ignore them. FIli decides that if this is the case, they will ignore him, and waits patiently for Oin to be finished.  
It takes a while, but eventually the old Dwarf shuffles past them and they approach the counter, only Fili able to see easily over it.

In exchange for a small amount for the pouch, Oin gives them a glass vial of something he says will help the bite heal and instructions to keep it clean. They listen to him earnestly, taking in everything that he says. They’re about to leave when Kili remembers something that they need to ask.  
“What do badgers eat?”  
Oin thinks on the question for a few minutes, Fili watching him while holding his brother’s hand. Kili is fidgeting, obviously now impatient.  
“Berries, eggs, worms. Whatever they can get their snouts on I think.” Oin eventually replies.  
Kili’s face lights up and he tears out of the shop, dragging Fili, who barely has time to shout a thank you behind him. After a few minutes of racing through the streets, he realises where his brother is dragging him and digs his heels in, slowing them both to a stop.  
“Kili, no,” he tells his brother, “we need to get home, not off to the woods.”  
“But we need to find the badger food.” Kili pouts.  
“We can do that tomorrow. Mama’ll have eggs and things.”  
Kili keeps on pouting, but Fili starts to drag him, and one of the benefits of being older is being bigger, and he’s soon leading the two of them back home.

Dis is busy preparing vegetables for their evening meal when they arrive home, shedding their coats onto hooks that their uncle had set specially for them after they’d left coats on the floor one too many times.  
Fili hands the pouch of coin back and carefully puts the jar of medicine on the kitchen table. Kili has already dashed over to look at the badger which seems to have fallen asleep in the box.  
“May we have some warm water in a bowl please?” Fili asks when Dis has set aside her knife.  
“You may,” she replies as she sets about refilling the cast iron kettle over the fire, swinging it over the heat. “Did you get what you needed?”  
Fili nods, “Mister Oin said we were to put that on the leg once we’d cleaned it twice a day, that we should only bandage it if it still bled or if it was getting dirty and that we should be careful as that would hurt when we put it on.” He recites what he was told carefully. “He also said that they eat eggs and berries and worms and things, and Kili wanted to go to the woods but it was getting dark so I thought you might worry and we have eggs and berries and we can go out tomorrow and get more.” He runs out of breath at that point and has to stop.  
The kettle is starting to whistle over the fire and Dis pulls it from the heat, filling a small basin and handing it carefully to her eldest.  
“You should probably wake it up before you start poking it with water and salves,” she advises, “and I’ll go and see if we have any supper for it.”  
There’s a chorus of “thank you mama” and Fili carefully carries the basin over to the box, returning to the table to get the salve and the bandages that Oin gave them.  
Kili is watching the badger carefully and after a minute he reaches out a hand to pat its head. It’s possibly not the smartest thing he could have done as the badger wakes with a snarl and a snap at his hand that he only just manages to avoid, backing away quickly and hiding behind Fili. The badger scrabbles around for a while and eventually manages to tip the box on its side, which is what spurs Fili into action as it tries to flee across the kitchen. He launches himself at the creature, managing to stop it from going too far, and keeps hold of it, sat in the middle of the floor while it wriggles.   
“Wet a bandage and clean it,” he tells Kili, trying to avoid as the animal snaps at his hair.  
Kili does as he’s told and gingerly dabs a damp bandage over the bite marks. It tries to twist its head around and snap at him, but his brother keeps it pinned, and made bolder by the fact that his brother is keeping him safe, he applies a bit more pressure, thinking about how their mother cleans his scraped knees and hands.  
Eventually he thinks he’s got it clean, and he would ask Fili, but that would mean he would have to let go of the badger.  
“Mama!” Instead, he calls for Dis, who comes running; worried that something awful has happened. He proudly shows her the leg, which she deems clean enough, and then undoes the jar for him, supervising as he cleans the salve.  
The badger, which had started to calm by this point flinches and start to struggle again, this time managing to snap at one of Fili’s braids. He lets go of the creature in shock, but it doesn’t let go of him and he cries out as his hair is yanked.  
By some miracle, Dis catches the animal and it lets go of Fili to snap at her, but she’s bigger and stronger than both of her sons and has wrangled dwarflings intent on avoiding baths and haircuts. The badger quickly finds itself pinned.  
“Is it bleeding?” she asks Kili, who shakes his head in mute awe. “Then let’s get it back into the box for now.”  
Kili puts the salve down and carefully tips the box back up so his mother can lift the creature in. It goes without protest and the three of them stand and watching it snuffle around before it settles in one corner.  
Animal settled, Dis turns to her two sons, and taking the jar of salve, goes about cleaning up their cuts and scratches. Fili complains the entire time, but Kili seems to be stuck in awe of his mother, not even complaining when she scolds him for not telling her that it had bitten him earlier. Fili’s hair is a wreck and one of the braids has to be cut short, which he sulks at, and glares at his brother as though it is all Kili’s fault.  
He goes and hides in their room while Dis helps Kili crack an egg over some dry bread and fruit, and the off cuts of the meat that had gone into their evening meal. It doesn’t look very appealing, and the badger seems fairly disinterested, but it eats some of it and Dis explains that sometimes when people or animals are scared, they don’t always want food.


End file.
